The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a buoyant hose coupling and more particularly to a coupling for use with flexible hose or tubing. More specifically, this invention relates to a buoyant hose coupling which is equipped to swivel to prevent the hose from becoming twisted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a common practice to utilize hose clamps and the like for coupling and securing relatively thick-walled rubber hoses and the like. The hose clamp can be tightened into the rubber hose wherein, by means of sufficient pressure, the hose clamp will exert sufficient force on the hose, deforming the same, to create a tight seal between the hose and the article to which it is clamped. Essentially, it is the inner resilience of the hose against the nipple to which it is pressed which performs the sealing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,051 (hereinafter xe2x80x9c""051 Patentxe2x80x9d) issued to Lokar et al. on Apr. 26, 1994 discloses a self-tightening hose coupling. However, the hose coupling disclosed in the ""051 Patent does not provide a self-aligning mechanism to prevent a hose from twisting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,942 (hereinafter xe2x80x9c""942 Patentxe2x80x9d) issued to Lokar on Jun. 10, 1986 discloses a hose coupling. However, the hose coupling disclosed in the ""051 Patent does not provide a self-aligning mechanism to prevent a hose from twisting.
It is an object of the instant invention to provide a coupling, which produces a good seal between the tubing and the article to which it is attached.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide reusable couplings, which can be recoupled in the field and can be assembled with no special tools.
Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a coupling, which can withstand relatively high pressures compared to its size.
A further object of the instant invention is to provide a lightweight swivel, which will allow a hose to roll out twists and kinks caused by storage or the wave action of a body of water.
Yet another object of the instant invention is to provide a buoyant coupling, which will rotate to prevent misalignment between connected hose segments.
A further object of the instant invention is to provide a buoyant coupling, which will provide for the ultimate capabilities of the hose, i.e., the maximum theoretical strength of the hose.
A further object of the instant invention is to provide means for coupling lengths of hose/tubing together, which can withstand relatively high pressures with extreme longitudinal pull, such as encountered in conveying such diverse fluids as drinking water, fuel, oil or the like from off-shore vessels to installations or facilities on-shore without leakage and/or contamination of the environment.
The swivel hose coupling of the present invention consists of a cylindrical shell assembly with cylindrical nipple assemblies that rotate within the shell. The nipple assemblies, a first nipple and a second nipple, are designed to rotate independent of one another to prevent inhibition of liquid flow in the hose. The nipple assemblies are in proximity with one another, but separated by antifriction bearings composed of a high friction compound such as TEFLON(copyright). The antifriction bearings are used to reduce the force required to rotate the nipples within the shell. Fluid seals are used to keep fluids from leaking out of the hose line. The fluid seals are designed for relative motion between the sealing surfaces on the shell and the nipples. Debris seals are on the outer ends of the housing to prevent dirt, grit or other contaminants from entering the bearing areas.